Countries with the most overseas born International players over the years??

[SJS]

I would say that is unquestionably true.

It is interesting to compare the paths of the children & grandchildren of West Indian & sub-continent immigrants to the UK in sporting terms. Both groups arrived at roughly the same time (late 40s/early 50s-late 60s/early 70s) but their sporting progress has followed markedly different routes.

To look at the two teams who represented England yesterday in our Football (soccer) team we had Wes Brown, Ashley Cole, Jermaine Jenas, Kieron Dyer & Shaun Wright-Phillips, all of West Indian ancestry; in our cricket team we had Vikram Solanki & Kabir Ali, both of sub-continental extraction. No Asian Englishmen in our Football team & no black Englishmen in our cricket team. As their parents & grandparents originated from areas where cricket is king this (to me) is interesting.

Whether it speaks of more integration by the West Indian communities or stronger familial bonds in the Asian community I don’t know! Certainly black English cricketers seem to be altogether rarer than only a decade ago.

The pertinent one here is no West Indians in cricket. You did have them till less than ten years ago you know. I think this has to do with the West Indians (the native West Indians) fast reducing interest in the game of cricket.

I was reading an article the other day by Peter Roebuck I think, where he linked the West Indies hey days with the times when you could walk onto any beach in the carrebean and see these young black boys with the most rudimentary of implements, aping the great west indian cricket stars. The passion for the game has been dying in the Carrebean for some time and the same reflected in the fortunes of the Windies team. I am sure it is also reflected in the young West Indians living away from home.

The heroes are still going to come from the homeland even for the second and third generations and I think the British West Indian youngsters are not finding enough heroes amongst the West indian cricketers whom they would like to emulate.

 

[Langeveldt]

Dale Steyn was born and raised in Zimbabwe, thats the only Saffer I can think of

 

[BoyBrumby]

Dale Steyn was born and raised in Zimbabwe, thats the only Saffer I can think of

If you include Rhodesians from before Zimbabwe got test status I bet there's quite a few. Colin Bland is one, John Traicos (actually born in Egypt, I think) another.

More recently the only one I can think of is Steve Elworthy, and think he move to SA as a child.

 

[Langeveldt]

I remember Neil Manthorp saying how Steyn has an Afrikaans name but because he is from Zimbabwe doesn't speak Afrikaans... One incident involved Mornantau Hayward volleying into a paragraph of abuse after his delivery, only for his captain at EP to tell him to try again in English the next delivery. A great retort without even opening his mouth

 

[Kweek]

uhm...Andy flower was born in south africa if i remember well ...


edit :Born: 28 April 1968, Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa yup

 

[marc71178]

Any Idea why England are so high??

Well there's a fair few in your list who were born there then moved to England very early in their lives.

 

[Mr Casson]

One thing that has surprised me is the lack of players of sub-continent extraction who’ve played for Oz. The only one I can think of is Dav Whatmore (Sri Lankan-born, Oz-raised I think). There is a fair ex-pat & first/second generation presence in Oz (not perhaps quite the level of the UK, but not negligible either) so this is a peculiar stat. Of course there is a very sizable ethnic Indian community in SA, but the reasons for their exclusion from international recognition (until Hashim Amla broke the mould v recently) are rather easier to ascertain.

Other foreign-born Oz players I know of are Clarrie Grimmett (NZ), Kepler Wessels (SA), Brendon Julian (NZ) & Andrew Symonds (UK).

Perth has a fairly large Sri Lankan population.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Perth has a fairly large Sri Lankan population.

Anyone of Sri Lankan extraction in WA's squad just now?

 

[Mr Casson]

Anyone of Sri Lankan extraction in WA's squad just now?

Not a soul.. we've got Darren Wates who is indigenous (doesn't count I suppose - he has no foreign heritage from the last few thousand decades) and Theo Doropolous who is easy enough to place as Greek. I don't know of anyone bar Sean Ervine and Luke Ronchi who were actually born overseas.

 

[Dasa]

Perth has a fairly large Sri Lankan population.

All the major Aus cities have fairly large subcontinental populations. There are a lot of Indians/Sri Lankans/Bangladeshis/Pakistanis in Melbourne. Per capita there are more Indians in Australia than in the UK.

 

[Langeveldt]

Anyone of Sri Lankan extraction in WA's squad just now?

Why should there be?

 

[BoyBrumby]

Why should there be?

I didn't say there should be! Cass said there was a big-ish SL community in Perth so the question kinda followed!

 

[Langeveldt]

I didn't say there should be! Cass said there was a big-ish SL community in Perth so the question kinda followed!

AHh, I like your thinking...

 

[Linda]

I would be more inclined to think there would be more South Africans in a WA team. I heard there is like 250,000 + in Perth alone.

 

[Swervy]

I would be more inclined to think there would be more South Africans in a WA team. I heard there is like 250,000 + in Perth alone.

so about a quarter of the population of Perth is South African????...are you sure about that???

 

[twctopcat]

so about a quarter of the population of Perth is South African????...are you sure about that???

Lol, that stuck me as a bit odd too.

 

[Zinzan]

Who'd be the best S.African thats played for England?

Tong Greig? Allan Lamb? Robin Smith? Strauss?

 

[Swervy]

Who'd be the best S.African thats played for England?

Tong Greig? Allan Lamb? Robin Smith? Strauss?

tough one...Tony greig was a really good allrounder, I think people forget how good he really was.

Lamb was a great batsman although sometimes I used to think he looked a bit 'wooden' in defense,Robin Smith was one of the best players of fast bowling you would want to see..Stauss certainly has the makings of one of the better players to play for England in the last 30 years or so

 

[superkingdave]

but he doesn't count because he isn't South African

 

[BoyBrumby]

but he doesn't count because he isn't South African

I'd agree, but he is SA-born.

I'm a bit too young to have see Tony Grieg (& certainly D'Oliveira!), but looking at his overall career figures he's probably 2nd only to Beefy in our all-rounders list (& even Beefy didn't bowl off spin too!).

I gotta go with Robin Smith tho, he was my hero growing up. Obv weakness against spin, but superb against pace & gutsy with it too. We ditched him far too early.